Harry Potter and the Vampire's Curse
by evilsinger
Summary: Harry and his friends get assigned a case in Sunnydale to battle vampires, demons and a hell god, but something happens that nobody expects. Harry/Dawn pairing in later chapters.
1. The Mission

Harry Potter and the Vampire's Curse

Harry James Potter, now eighteen, was finishing his report on a case he finished earlier that day. Waving his wand, the parchment folded into a paper airplane and flew to his Head of Department's office. Another airplane flew into his and he opened it. "Mr. Potter, please report to the Minister's office immediately. You have a new case." He read aloud. "Well, I suppose I better go," he said.

Harry made his way to the Minister's office and hesitated. He realized that one year ago, he and his two friends, Ron Weasley, who now worked in Magical Maintenance, and Hermione Granger, who worked at the Goblin Liaison Office in the Ministry, had broken in and stolen a locket from Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge and freed a lot of Muggle-born witches and wizards. "Just go in, Harry, you can do it," he told himself. "Kingsley was working with you on the whole thing." He knocked and entered.

"Ah, Harry," Kingsley said in his slow, deep voice. "I'm glad you arrived. We have some problems in America and would like you, Hermione and Ron to handle it. I know neither of them are in your department, but I thought it would be prudent for the three of you to do this one together."

"Sir, I have complete trust in them," Harry said with confidence in his voice. "They're my best friends, and I'm sure they would jump at this chance to do some good." Kingsley gave a chuckle and stood.

"I'm glad you said that, my friend, because what you'll be dealing with are far worse than Death Eaters or the Dark Lord," Kingsley hesitated and tapped a projector with his wand. "You shall be fighting vampires with a powerful person. When I say powerful, I don't mean politically, I mean physically. She's known as Buffy Summers, and she is the Slayer."

An hour later, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry were all having dinner at Harry's house, number twelve Grimmauld Place. "So let me get this straight," said Ron taking a swig of pumpkin juice. "The Minister wants us to go to America to fight vampires?" Harry nodded. "What about Ginny?"

"I'm sure the Minister wouldn't mind if she tagged along. She's an expert with the Bat-Bogey Hex, and she knows how to hold her own." Harry said glancing at his fiance'. "Would you like to go, dear?"

"Harry Potter, I spent an entire year fighting Death Eaters at the Ministry in my fourth year at Hogwarts, and you ask me if I want to go fighting vampires with you guys? Are you mental?" Ginny said with a grin. "I'm going whether you ask me or not."


	2. Surprise, You're Cursed!

Harry Potter and the Vampire's Curse – Chapter 2

The four friends boarded the first plane to Sunnydale as soon as they could. Hermione got some of her money out of the bank so she could pay for the tickets, and bought some Muggle clothes for Ron. "You do realize we can't wear wizard robes in America?"

"We can't?" Ron asked bewildered. "Why not? We're as normal as any of the Muggles. So, we've got wands and magic. That doesn't make us aliens, now does it?"

"Actually, some of the Americans think that magic doesn't exist like your aunt and uncle did." Hermione explained. "Others like this Buffy Summers person are probably involved in magical conflict." She scratched her chin in thought. "Exactly how long did Kingsley say we're supposed to stay in America?"

"He said it could take a couple of years for the apocalypse to reveal itself, so we'll be here for two years tops." Harry confided. "We'll just need a place to stay, that's all."

In Sunnydale, Buffy Summers stood with her two friends and her sister waiting for the four newcomers to arrive. "Dawn, here's some money. Go buy a snack or something." she said handing her 14-year-old sister a ten-dollar bill. Dawn strode to the concession stand to buy what she wanted. "Giles said these four are powerful Ministry of Magic officials. Well, at least three of them."

"Okay, that's all fine and dandy, but what do we need a bunch of Minstry wizards for?" Xander asked. "I don't suppose they're going to stab a vampire with their wands, right?" Buffy glared at him and saw Dawn return. "Oh, Dawn, could you tell us if they're here yet? I'm going to sleep." Dawn grunted as she ate a burger.

Harry and the gang got off the plane and walked into a small waiting area. He noticed a blonde girl accompanied by a red-headed girl, a dark-haired boy and a young brunette. "Guys, that girl looks fourteen," he said staring at Dawn. His scar started to prickle and he put a hand to it for the first time in one year. "That's odd. My scar just started hurting again."

"But we destroyed all of the Horcruxes and you killed You-Know-Who!" Ron whispered. "What would make your scar hurt now?" Harry shrugged and they walked toward the small group. "Hi, we're the Potter party."

"Nice to meet you guys," Buffy said thumping Xander in the chest. "Sorry, Xander says stupid things sometimes. I had to stop him from doing that just now." She gave a nervous laugh and led them to an old RV. This vehicle reminded Harry vaguely of the Knight Bus, the emergency wizard transport he rode on in his third year. Once the Potter crew got inside the RV, they saw a man with bleach blonde hair wearing a black leather jacket and goggles. "Let's hit it, Spike."

"I was half expecting a shrunken head to say something," Harry said aloud as they drove through the winding streets of Sunnydale. Buffy laughed as they stopped in front of a building called the Magic Box. "Well, I saw one once and it was quite humiliating."

"Ah, well, you don't have to worry about that here," Xander said. "All you guys need to worry about are demons, vampires and a crazy hell god." Harry gulped at those words. "Sorry, we'll explain in a bit."

"I'm sort of wishing I didn't say anything right now," he said as they entered the shop. "What kind of magic shop is this?" A man dressed in tweed appeared from the back room of the shop.

"The Magic Box is a shop for Wicca and Pagan witches or wizards," said the man. He held out his hand for Harry and the others to shake. "I'm Rupert Giles, the new owner of this fine shop, and welcome to Sunnydale, Mr. Potter." Harry sat down at a circular table and listened to Giles' explanations. "Am I right in guessing you're wondering why you were chosen to help us?"

"Actually, Mr. Giles, after all these years, I just sort of go with it," Harry said with a smile. "I've been through a lot in the past seventeen years and thwarted a Dark Wizard throughout most of them."

Giles nodded. "Well, not only do we have vampires and demons as guests in our city, we have a god as well. Her name is Glory and she's after a certain 'object' that can open the gateway to her dimension."

"I would hazard a guess at the fourteen-year-old girl with Buffy, am I right?" Whatever Buffy was holding shattered as he said this. "Oh, I am right?"

"Yes, you are, so to say. Dawn is what Glory's looking for. She's the Key, a powerful entity capable of opening other dimensions and also causing chaos in the whole universe." Buffy said brushing the glass off of Hermione's shirt. "She's also my sister, and she's not going to be opening any dimensions on my watch."

"That was a high-priced vile of lacewing flies!" yelled a woman at the counter. "I'm Anya, how are you four doing?" Harry and the others told her how they felt, and she smiled.

"So, why were we chosen?" Ron asked going back to the topic at hand. "I mean, we just got done with a large wizard war, and we're just settling down." Hermione nodded vigorously. "I'll help, but what good are our spells going to do against a crazy hell god?"

"As to that, we're not sure, but we'll find out," said Willow confidently. "That's what I'm here for. I find the weaknesses of our foes, and Buffy and whoever helps us fights them. Of course I do spells too, but yours require waving a wand, while mine call for ingredients."

"Willow, you're babbling again," Xander said patting his friend on the back. "Sorry about her, she's a little nervous."

While the group was chatting, nobody noticed a vampire hiding in the shadows and listening. "It's time I show the Slayer what a vampire can really do," he snarled. "Dave, get the spell book. I'm going to place the Vampire's Curse on you to spread to the Potter boy." Another vampire appeared and the first vampire chanted the incantation. "Now, bite that boy, and let the good times roll!"

It was getting dark, and Harry was on patrol with Buffy. He noted that she was very focused and nothing could stop her from doing her job. "Harry, could you stay out here for a minute? I have something to do." Harry nodded and leaned against a nearby tree. As he watched her go, he felt a pain in both his neck and his scar. He whipped his wand out and shot a Stunning Spell at his attacker, which happened to be a vampire.

"Blimey, I didn't think I'd meet a vampire on the first night on the job," he said. "I didn't think I'd get bit by one either!" The vampire he hit with the spell lay spread-eagle on the ground. Without hesitation, Harry drove his wand through the vampire's decomposing flesh and into it's heart. As he did this, the vampire exploded in a flurry of dust.

"What the hell happened out here?" Buffy asked as she ran out of the building she went in earlier, a stake clutched in her hand. "Harry, are you okay?" she asked as she saw the bite marks on Harry's neck.

"Yeah, but as he bit me, my scar hurt worse than the bite," Harry panted. "We should go see Giles about this one. My scar didn't hurt unless Voldemort was either nearby or very happy or angry."

"This isn't your normal vampire bite!" Harry said for the umpteenth time as Giles paced the room. "The vampire bit me, and the scar on my forehead burst with pain. Can you explain how that would happen?" Ginny rubbed his arm to calm him down. It wasn't an hour later when Willow found the problem.

"The bite you received was embedded with a powerful curse called the Vampire's Curse," she said looking disgusted.

"What? I just turn into a vampire?" Harry asked puzzled. Willow shook her head and handed the book to Harry, who read the curse aloud. "The Vampire's Curse is an ancient curse that takes the victim's life energy. The curse also dictates that the victim will have the ability to feed on human or animal life energy and it is essential that he must do so or he will be completely changed into a vampire." Harry reread the passage and passed the book to the others. "Brilliant, another cursed wound I have to endure. At least this one doesn't involve skull-splitting headaches as you look into the caster's mind or emotions!"

"Um, you're not wrong on that, but what you didn't read was that when you're near a suitable victim, you're bite will give you a small jolt of pain when you're farther from your victim, but will get worse as you get closer." Hermione said. "I don't think you're out of the woods on this one, Harry."

"Damn!" Harry yelled slamming his fist on the table. He took a deep breath. "Will I sprout fangs or something?" Ron took the book and read the part Harry asked about.

"No, but all you have to do is breathe in when you're exactly five feet from your victim, let's say in an alleyway or a bush, and their life force will come out of either their mouth, eyes, or neck." he said in disgust. "Better you, than me, mate."


	3. Curse Lifted, Full Vampire

Harry Potter and the Vampire's Curse - Chapter 3

This was the second cursed wound Harry had to endure and he was getting tired of it. The only two things that stopped him from staking himself were the fact that there was no prophecy predicting this and Ginny. Harry sat down on Buffy's sofa with the book Hermione got him for Christmas in his sixth year, _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and was reading a particularly good chapter on the Wronski Feint Viktor Krum did during the match between Ireland and Bulgaria in 1994. A sweet scent came from his left side and he saw Dawn sitting next to him. "Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there. I was just reading this book."

"_Quidditch Through the Ages_?" Dawn said with an eyebrow raised. "Ron told me about Quidditch while you slept earlier and he also mentioned that you were the youngest Seeker in a hundred years."

"He's not wrong," Harry admitted. "At my school, first year students aren't usually allowed to join their House Quidditch teams, but I was an exception when my school rival was bullying one of my friends and took a very interesting object called a Remembrall out of his pocket." Dawn scowled and made the sound of an angry cat, which sounded very much like Crookshanks, Hermione's ginger cat. "This all happened during our flying lesson. Malfoy, my rival, flew up into the air, I went after him and told him to give the Remembrall to me or I'd knock him off his broomstick. Malfoy, being the prat he was, threw the Remembrall and I caught it before it went through our Head of House's office window."

"So that's how you got the title...I was wondering about that." Dawn said smiling. "Ron and Hermione told me about your adventures in school like that fully-grown mountain troll, the giant snake, dementors and fighting Voldemort one-on-one. They all sounded so cool."

Harry sat the book down on his lap and looked into Dawn's brown eyes. "The first three were pretty cool, but the last one was a bit horrific." A tear came to his eyes and, even though it happened almost four years previously, it still hurt him to think about the tragic event that happened when Harry was magically transported to the graveyard behind the Riddle House. "I was in the third task of the Triwizard Tournament when this happened. I helped this guy, who was only one year older than me, throughout the task and Voldemort killed him in front of me. I know it happened almost four years ago, but it still gets to me every time someone mentions it."

"I'm sorry. I really am." Dawn said sadly. "I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's fine." Harry said honestly then turned serious. "I just wish I could find a way to lift this bloody curse. I don't mind being a vampire but having to drain someone's life energy, their soul, I can't do that." Dawn was about to say something when Buffy came in. "Hey, Buffy."

"Hi, Harry," said the Slayer, her eyes fixed on Dawn. "She's not bothering you, is she?"

"Not at all," he assured her. "I was just explaining that I need to find a way to lift this curse." Harry was walking past the door and stepped into a patch of sunlight streaming through the window and ran toward the shadows as his skin started to burn. "Bloody hell, I can't even go past the door without getting burned!" he said in frustration. Dawn slowly walked toward him and touched him. At her touch, he turned and she gasped. "What? What's wrong?"

"You...your face got lumpy! You vamped out!" she said touching his face. Harry shook his head and didn't believe her. "Check the teeth and your face." He touched his teeth which were now fangs and his face and gasped. "Hang on...I gotta try something." Dawn went to a wall and showed him a cross. At the sight of it, he cringed. "You're definitely a vampire."

"Great," he muttered. "Just bloody great! I don't know how I can deal with this!" He ran upstairs and slammed Buffy's bedroom door shut.

Ginny and Hermione were in the kitchen with Willow, Xander and Buffy when they heard Harry slam the door upstairs. Ron was at the Magic Box with Giles researching on how to lift the Vampire's Curse without hurting him. "I don't think he took it well," Xander said with a sigh. "I mean, your friend's got a good heart and a fine brain, but he didn't take it well."

"I wouldn't expect him to," Hermione said calmly. "He's a creature of the night, isn't he? A vampire?" Xander shrugged. "I, for one, am staying friends with him even if he is a vampire. I mean, we've been friends since our first year of Hogwarts and we've been through everything together so far. Ron may have been a git at times, but he still thinks of Harry as a friend no matter what species he is." Buffy nodded and thought that was a good thing. Ginny, however, was silent. "What's wrong, Ginny?"

"I..." she said lightly, "I don't think I can handle this...being with him as a vampire? What if he loses control and tries to drain me of my blood after we lift this curse? I don't want anything to happen to him."

"Nothing will happen, Ginny," Buffy promised. "We'll lift this curse and everything will be fine."

"I don't mean the bloody curse, Slayer!" Ginny said fuming. "I mean afterwards! I think it's time I told him I can't be with him." Hermione was shocked at this but Ginny had her mind made up and went upstairs to Buffy's room and knocked on the door. Harry gave the okay to enter and she went in. "Harry, I think we need to talk."

"Don't bother, Gin," he said grimly. "I heard every word you said down there." Harry pointed to his ears and said, "Vampire hearing, remember?" She nodded and asked if he was okay with her decision. "I think it's better for both of us, really. You don't want to get hurt and I don't want to hurt you. Maybe you're right. We should break it off."

Ginny sighed and said, "Good. I'll tell Ron that I'm heading home and...I still love you." He hugged her quickly and she walked down the stairs just as Giles and Ron were coming in. "Ron, I want to go home. I broke up with Harry."

"You what?" Ron gasped. "But you've been after him since your first year! When you finally get him back, you break up with him? What's the problem?"

"Harry's a vampire, Ron! I just don't want him to kill me or give me a reason to stake him." she said honestly. "I'm taking the earliest flight back to England and I'm heading back home." Ron nodded and gave her some American money to get the ticket. "Thanks. Give me word when you get the curse lifted and stop that hell god."

"Right," said Ron and hugged his sister. "I'll be sure to do that." Ginny walked off followed by Xander who was offering to take her to the airport. "Make sure she gets there safely, Xander." He nodded and Ginny hopped into his car and they were off. Buffy came in and asked what he and Giles figured out. "Well, there are two ways to lift the curse. The first is to give him a soul and the last one is a bit more unlikely. He has to take the life energy of a god."

Harry heard that and ran down the stairs. "You mean I have to take Glory's life energy? Are you mental?" he cried indignantly. "That could go terribly wrong, Ron, even if I did manage to do it."

"No, no," Giles said with an air of happiness. "You see, if you take some of Glory's life energy, she'll be vulnerable to Buffy and we could stop her before she opens the gates to her dimension and lets all other dimensions bleed through and stop this chaos! Giving you your soul will be the hardest thing we can do, to be honest." Harry had to admit that Giles was right. Even if they gave him his soul back, he would be in much more pain than if someone performed the Cruciatus Curse on him.

"That's great, Giles." Buffy said appreciatively. "How will he go about taking her life energy?"

"That's not so hard, actually," Ron said smiling now. "All he has to do is open his mouth and breathe in. Her power will slowly deminish and Harry will have all of her power except the brain-sucking part." He glanced over at Tara who was muttering about how 'it's time'. "If Harry takes Glory's life energy, you'll be able to kill her and stop all this madness."

Buffy smiled at the idea, but Dawn had a better one. "What's up, Dawn?"

"I just had an idea. What would happen Harry does both? Get his soul back and drain Glory of her life energy?" she asked curiously. "What would happen to him?"

"I _really_ don't want to test that theory until it's really needed, Dawn," Harry said firmly and sat down on the sofa, his stomach growling somewhat. "Does anyone have any blood I could drink?" Dawn hurried into the kitchen where Harry heard the microwave oven turn on and smelled the entrancing scent of warm blood. The microwave oven beeped after a minute and she came in with a steaming packet of blood. "Thanks." he said as he took the packet, vamped out, and drank from it. When the blood hit his taste buds, Harry gagged a moment then asked, "What kind of blood is that?"

"Pig," Ron said looking at the packet. Harry gulped the rest of it down and his face reverted to his human form. "Blimey, you drank that whole packet in about a minute." Hermione glared at him but said nothing. "Harry, should we contact Kingsley and tell him what happened to you?"

"I think he'll already know," Harry said. "The Ministry usually knows when one of their Aurors dies or turns into a bloody vampire." He looked down at his outfit an grimacd. "I may have to find another wardrobe, guys. Buffy, could you and Dawn go shopping today?"

"Yeah, sure," said Buffy nodding. "I'll get Mom and we can go later." Harry watched as Joyce Summers came down the stairs and said hi. "Hey, Mom. Are you going somewhere?" Harry saw a suitcase in Joyce's hand and she nodded. "Where?"

"I'm going to the hospital for a CAT scan and I'll be there overnight for observation." Joyce informed them. "Don't worry about me, honey. Just take care of whatever Slayer business you have and don't forget to take care of Dawn."

"I don't need someone to take care of me!" Dawn protested from the stairs.

"Yes, you do!" Buffy and Joyce said at the same time and grinned. Buffy cupped her hands around her mouth and said loud enough for Dawn to hear, "Harry, will you watch Dawn? I have some stuff to do?" Harry nodded.

Dawn came running down the stairs, her expression happy now. "Okay!" she said. "Harry, will you come with me for a minute?" Harry was unsure whether to go with the fourteen-year-old girl. "I won't use any crosses, holy water or anything on you." she promised and Harry finally went up with her. They were in her bedroom now and Dawn had shut the door. "I'm kinda glad you weren't here when the Initiative was."

"The Initiative?" Harry said puzzled, then he remembered Willow talking about it. "Oh, you mean that military operation under the college?" She nodded. "Why are you glad I wasn't around when they were?"

"Well, if you had been turned into a vampire back then and you were here, the Initiative would've taken you into their holding area and put a behavioral implant in your brain."

"Back then, I was kind of getting a job...which I no longer have." Harry reminded her, then stopped short as he paced the room. "That Riley bloke...he's not one of the Initiative, is he?" Dawn nodded. "I hope he doesn't know about me being a vampire now."

"Don't worry, Buffy will tell him the story and he'll probably get to like you...besides the vampire part." Dawn assured him. As expected, Buffy came into the living room with Riley Finn, the ex-agent of the Initiative. "See? What did I tell you?"

Riley sat next to Harry, who went back to his book, and said, "Hey, big guy. Buffy tells me you're going through something tough?"

"You could say that," Harry said grimly while shutting _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and turning to Riley. "Just make sure you're not bleeding around me, okay?" Riley looked thoroughly confused now so Harry elaborated for him to see if the ex-agent would get the point. "Back in the Initiative, you carted many creatures to your little base for examination, right?" Riley nodded slowly, still not getting it. "Even vampires."

"Yeah, why?" Riley asked slowly. Harry gave him a look and the young man's gaze went to the floor. "Oh," he said with a bit of disappointment. "You're one of _them_?"

"Yes, I'm a vampire." Harry confirmed. "But, I have a slightly bigger problem. That vampire bite had a curse in it...a curse that allows me to drain the life energy out of a person or animal and I want to do neither. The only two ways to get rid of the curse are to give me my soul back or suck the life energy from Glory."

Riley's eyes widened at the name and a slight grin spread across his thin lips. "That'll weaken her considerably, wouldn't it?" Buffy nodded, a small smile appearing on her face as well. "Then that means that she'll be easier to defeat?"

"In theory, yes," Hermione acknowledged. "Unfortunately, from what Giles explained, Glory has a whopping twenty-percent more strength than Buffy, a lot more agility and...and the ability to drive people insane by placing her fingers on the victim's temples." She shuddered at the thought and continued in a shaky voice, "There is a possibility that Harry could become a victim if he doesn't take at least fifty percent of her life energy at the right moment." The others joined in on the conversation until there was a crashing sound from the kitchen. "Let me check on that..." She ran into the kitchen for one moment and ran back the next. "I think Joyce needs a hospital! She's unconscious and I can't revive her with magic." Harry stood up quickly, ran to the kitchen and carried Joyce to Xander's car.

At the hospital, Harry was entrusted by Buffy to look after Dawn, so he took Dawn to the cafeteria and ordered her some food. Dawn told Harry about all of her problems she'd been having and that Buffy was being too protective of her. "It's normal, in situations like this, for the older sibling to be protective." he explained. "He may not look it, but Ron can be very protective of Ginny when the time comes. Like in my sixth year, Ron and I were talking when we came across Ginny snogging one of our friends in a deserted corridor at school one evening. It happened to be the same corridor Ron and I took as a shortcut to our dormitory."

"What happened?" Dawn asked interestedly.

"Well, Ron yelled at Ginny for snogging in public and she argued back. Wands were drawn and I, being the one to stop all fights between friends for years, had to stop this one before it got out of hand." Harry said. "Unfortunately, I had the same brotherly feeling toward Ginny as Ron did and I really wanted to curse the bloke for even touching her." Dawn rested her chin in her hands and listened to his story. "In the end, Ginny and the other guy broke up and she was with me for a while...until now."

"So...what should I do? Let Buffy control me?" Dawn inquired with a sneer. "I don't think so."

"No," Harry said shaking his head, "but you should at least consider why she's protecting you. My headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, kept a lot of secrets since my eleventh birthday and finally told me everything before he died. It took him five years to tell me everything because I was either too young or too busy fighting Voldemort and his Death Eaters or whatever to even get a chance."

Dawn considered his words and, with a grin, thanked him. "You're really helpful, Harry." she said softly. "I think...never mind." Harry raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. "I...I can't say it." But Harry had figured it out anyway.

"You like me more than you thought you did?" he guessed and, when she nodded, grinned. "It's okay. I get a lot of that around me. I like you, too, but...wouldn't your sister be a little hacked if you dated a vampire?" Dawn shrugged and said she didn't care. "I do, though. I care about losing you as a friend and...well, turning into a pile of dust. You'll only ever see me at night unless I'm out hunting or something."

"I still don't care. Once we get that curse lifted from you, things will be better." Dawn said and Harry noticed that her hand was on his. She was leaning in toward him when Buffy came in and said that Joyce wanted to see them. "Saved by the Slayer, eh?" Harry laughed and followed the Summers sisters to the elevator.

_Two Hours Later..._

After speaking with Joyce, Harry found himself sitting on a bench outside the room. Buffy's crush, Ben, sat next to him. Ben was a doctor at the hospital and was worried about Buffy's mother. "Hey," he said to Harry, who looked up at the sound of his voice. "You're pretty shaken up about all this, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Harry said nodding. "I, uh, saw a lot of death and despair back in England, so I know what it's like." He ran a hand through his dark hair and chuckled mirthlessly. "You'd think that, after all I've been through for the past seven years, I'd be used to this sort of thing, but I'm not! I can't stand all the despair here." Three things happened at the same time: Ben opened his mouth, Harry drew in a breath, and the Vampire's Curse lifted from him. "Whoa!" he yelped as the curse's effects vanished from his body leaving him a soulless creature of the night.

Ben stood up, wide-eyed and looking scared. "What the hell did you do to me?" he hissed. When Harry couldn't answer, the doctor backed away from him. "You're a freak, you know that?" Harry didn't know what to say to that. He'd been called a freak by his cousin ever since he found out he was a wizard and never let that go. "Just...just stay away from me, okay?"

"Ben, I..." Harry stammered, but Ben wouldn't listen. He entered Joyce's room for a moment then headed out toward the basement of the hospital. Harry, being one to follow someone suspicious, followed him and watched as Ben went to his locker. "Bloody hell," he whispered. "Something's definitely not right about this bloke." He was right. Ben, after making sure no one was around, transformed into a woman in her mid-twenties. She wore a black dress and had curly blonde hair that cascaded past her shoulders. "Oh, Merlin, what did I do?"

Just then, Harry watched a demon enter the room, his tongue lashing out every few seconds and stopped in front of the woman. "I need my key!" she said angrily. "You, my demon friend, are going to get it for me!" The demon nodded and walked away from her. Harry was about to go back upstairs when the woman stopped him. "Not so fast, boy! You shouldn't be eavesdropping."

"My answer to that is...I don't care." Harry said in a growl, his wand outstretched and pointed at the woman. "Who are you?"

"My subjects call me Glorificus, but I go by..."

"Glory," Harry said nodding. "I thought that was you." Glory laughed and stepped toward him just as he fired off a Stunning Spell. The spell hit her in the face, making her flip backward and landing on her front. "That key you're after? You're not getting it." Glory stood up and uppercutted Harry with a fist to his chin. He flew to the ceiling and landed on the floor. "All right, you bitch. You just messed with the wrong vampire!"

"A vampire?" Glory said surprised. "Oh sh..." Her last word was drowned out by a loud growl as Harry ran at her in full vampire mode and rushed her into a wall. "You're strong for a newborn vampire, Potter. Let's see how you do against a god like me." Harry didn't have a chance to dodge her punch as it hit him square in the chest and he flew through the double doors and into the hallway. "Surprised, Harry? Yeah, I thought you would be." Glory broke a piece of wood against her knee and aimed it straight at his not-beating heart. "Ashes to ashes..." she said while leaning over him, the bit of wood a few inches from his chest, "and dust to..."

"Death!" Harry whispered back and shoved his foot into her stomach. She staggered backward. "I'm warning you now, Glory, leave that key alone or I will murder you myself." Glory laughed again, which made the new Harry Potter angrier than he usually was. "You think I'm joking? I have no bloody soul now! No consience!" He was still vamped out and started to laugh maniacally. "You really need to think there, Glory. A vampire with magic against a god? Hmm...who's going to win?" He quickly cast various spells, which hit her simultaneously and went upstairs as Glory landed on the floor, blood soaked and in a lot of pain.

_**(Sorry for not updating sooner, but I had to reset my computer, which meant all my files were erased and I didn't realize what I wrote at the time after I posted the first 2 chapters. Hope you like this one.)**_


	4. The Final Battle

Harry Potter and the Vampire's Curse - Chapter 4: The Final Battle

Harry, Dawn and Buffy were hanging out at the house with Willow, Xander, Anya, Giles and the now mentally-ill Tara in the living room. Harry, thankful that the stronger Impervious spell worked long-term to keep him from burning in the sunlight, sat on the sofa with Dawn and talked with everyone else. "Glory was all fast and stuff but Buffy didn't even care. Glory turned and...BAM! Hell-bitch in orbit." Harry laughed and drank some blood to sustain him from having to take anyone's life energies.

"Good going, Buffy," Willow said. "Did you hit her or...?"

"A truck hit her." Buffy said grimly, then Anya asked if she threw it at her. Dawn and Harry both explained that they waited for the truck to hit the god and then fell silent. "We have to get out of here." Buffy said urgently. "Get out of town."

"You mean run away?" Anya asked. "I like that plan. That's the only plan that works." Harry nodded and asked what they should do in the meantime, and Buffy told them to meet at the Magic Box in a half-hour to wait for their ride.

_The Magic Box - Afternoon_

Giles, Harry, Willow, Tara and Xander waited for Buffy and Dawn to arrive. Giles was asking what they were riding in to get out of town when, to answer his question, a large camper appeared out of nowhere, its windows and windshield covered by aluminum foil and other plastics. When they got aboard the camper, Giles saw Spike and looked murderous. "Spike. Get out."

"He's our driver," Buffy said, "so he stays. End of story." Giles sat down as Spike grinned at them. Harry, who was not used to another vampire driving, especially one who was driving without a driver's license, gulped.

"Buckle up, kiddies," Spike said grinning, "Daddy's putting the hammer down!" He put the camper in drive and floored it. Harry fell into his seat and Xander was starting to get sick. Dawn held Harry's hand while sitting down. After an hour, Giles was driving the camper and Spike sat on the floor next to Willow and there was an eerie silence until Tara opened the blinds and Harry and Spike leapt backward. Spike's hand was burning slightly and yelped. Tara started to cry at his yelp and Willow tried to calm her down. Harry reached into his bag and pulled out a crystal phial of blue potion he brewed the night before.

"Here," he said handing the small bottle to Willow. "This is a calming potion. One sip and Tara will be mellowed out for a while." Willow unstoppered the bottle and Tara sipped the potion and then slowly started to calm down. "I'm glad I did the Impervius Maxima spell on me, to be honest. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be standing here." Anya, after Dawn said something about food, pulled out a frying pan and some canned meat, but Harry shook his head. "Thanks, Anya, but I have the necessary food items here." He brought out some Jelly Skulls, Licorice Wands, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties and a few bottles of butterbeer. "These are wizard sweets from Honeydukes. I kept them for an emergency such as this."

"Ooh!" Dawn said reaching for a box of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans. "These look good." Harry laughed when she bit into a bean and gagged. "Oh, God! What flavor is this?" Harry looked at the back, still laughing and pointed it out. "Vomit? Ugh!"

"Yeah, you get the odd flavors," he said after he stopped laughing long enough to talk. "When I was in the hospital wing after my very first encounter with Voldemort, Professor Dumbledore said he lost his liking for the beans after he found a vomit-flavored one." Dawn nodded and went for a Cauldron Cake and Buffy, who decided to come out to grab a bottle of butterbeer, took a Chocolate Frog. "Be careful, Buffy," Harry warned, "there's a spell on the frog to make it come alive." Buffy let out a gasp as the frog leapt out of the box and onto the closed window. With lightning-fast reflexes, the Slayer grabbed the moving frog and bit into it. "Look at the Famous Witches and Wizards Card inside. They're collectable."

"Hey!" Buffy said happily as she looked at the card. "I got you!" Harry smiled at his own picture on the card and she read the back of it. _"Born in 1980, Harry Potter, or better known as the Boy-Who-Lived, escaped the Killing Curse cast by the notorious Lord Voldemort in 1981. How he escaped the Dark Lord's curse is unknown, but the whole Wizarding World praises Harry Potter for breaking the Dark Lord's power at the age of one years old." _She stared at the card and said, "Cool."

"Yeah," Harry said modestly, "but I was only a year old at the time and only Dumbledore and I know exactly how I defeated Voldemort back then." He pulled out a picture of his godfather, Sirius Black and said, "This was my godfather, Sirius Black. He was sentenced to the wizard prison Azkaban for supposedly murdering thirteen Muggles with a single curse. Sirius broke out of Azkaban to get revenge on the one man who actually did the curse and betrayed my parents to Voldemort but was caught at Hogwarts. Hermione and I set him free at the end of our third year." When Xander, who was getting sick, asked what happened to Sirius, Harry said in a sad tone, "He died in a battle at the Ministry of Magic in my fifth year. A Death Eater named Bellatrix Lestrange killed him but Ron's mum killed her a few years back during the final battle."

"Cool," said Buffy again. "I was killed by the Master during my sophomore year at high school." Harry looked surprised by this and she shrugged. "I drowned. The Master bit me and threw me face-first into a pool of water then Xander revived me with CPR because Angel, my vampire boyfriend at the time, couldn't do it." Xander smiled weakly and turned back to Giles. "To tell you the truth, Harry, I got the Master back afterwards. I pushed him through the library's skylight and he was impaled by a splinter of wood through the heart and he was dust...somewhat."

"Yes," Giles said, "and, if I remember correctly, you smashed his bones to dust with a sledgehammer afterwards." Buffy nodded and gasped again as Tara mentioned something about horses. The Slayer said something about a weapon and Spike said they were driving one.

"Don't hit the horsies!" Willow said trying to keep Tara calm.

"We won't!" Harry said, then turned back to Giles. "Aim for the horses." Giles nodded and jerked the steering wheel to the left and Harry broke some windows and aimed his wand through the broken glass. _"Stupefy!"_ A jet of red light hit one of the knights riding the horses and they fell off. _"Expelliarmus!"_ A mace flew out of another knight's hand and struck his fellow behind them in the helmet. Harry heard foosteps on the rooftops and a sword plunged down through the roof. "Bloody hell!" he cried.

"Xander, help me through the emergency hatch!" Buffy called as Spike held the silver blade with his hand and pushed upward. Xander gave Buffy a boost and started fighting once she was on the roof. Harry jumped upward and started joining her. "You take the guys coming from behind and I'll take the ones coming from the front."

"Gotcha." said Harry as he kicked a knight off the roof with his foot. Another knight punched him in the face and he vamped out. "Bad idea, mate." Harry growled and hit the knight so hard that he flew off the camper's roof and landed on the road. Once the knights were gone, Buffy and Harry stayed on the roof in case there were more coming. Harry noticed a horse heading toward the front and the knight threw a spear through the windshield. "No!" Harry shouted, but it was too late. The camper rolled onto its side leaving him and Buffy on the dirt road.

Harry watched Buffy lay Giles on a counter at an old gas station and Willow tried to staunch the bleeding as much as possible. When she couldn't do much, Harry sighed and gently moved the Wicca to the side. "Let me take care of this." He drew his wand and muttered the spell Snape used on Draco Malfoy when Harry attempted the Sectumsempra curse on Malfoy. Giles's wound healed, but he was still in shock. "We're going to need a doctor and a few protective charms around the place."

"I'll get a doctor here soon and you do the spells," Willow said. "I'm kinda tapped out at the moment from taking Glory on with magicks." Harry nodded and went outside the gas station.

Dawn came out to watch him perform the spells. Harry raised his wand and muttered several spells at once. _"Protego Maxima...Salvio Hexia...Fianto Duri...Cave Inimicum..."_ Jets of light shot from his wand and a large, invisible shield formed around the area. "There. We should be safe for now, but those knights probably have some sorcerers to try and break it so we better get inside and make sure everyone else's okay." Dawn nodded and went back inside with him. Buffy was on the phone with the hospital intern, Ben, who said he'd come as soon as he could. As Harry suspected, the knights who attacked them asked their sorcerers to try and break the shield over the station.

"I'm going out there to talk to the knights. There's a general in the other room we can interrogate." Buffy said and she and Xander went outside to talk to the knights after Harry undid the protective spells and went to talk to the general.

The general was chained up tight to a beam and Harry, with his wand at the ready, walked in. "Well, well," the general sneered, "if it isn't the Boy-Who-Lived. Yes, you're quite popular among us as well, the Savior of the normal world as well as your own."

"I defeated a Dark Wizard who killed my parents, general," Harry said, "nothing more." The general laughed. "What can you tell me about Glory?" The general told him everything he could about 'the Beast', the Harry asked, "What about the Key?"

"The Key is the link. The link must be severed so is the will of God." said the General glaring at Dawn, who was behind Harry now. "The Key belongs to the Beast and its job is to open the gates to the Beasts's hell dimension, which is all she wants."

"Hang on," Harry said trying not to laugh, "but all Glory wants is to go home? That's nothing to kill everyone for." The knight whom Harry dubbed General Forehead because of the tattoo on the man's forehead looked deadly serious and decided to stop talking when Buffy and Dawn entered the room. General Forehead glared at Dawn with pure hatred so Harry held the man's throat with his own hand. "I'm going to give you a choice, mate. Tell me what you know about Glory and the Key or I can let the Slayer ask the questions and she's very persuasive."

"Not a chance, vampire." General Forehead hissed and spat on the floor. "I'd rather die than tell you anymore." Harry shrugged and walked out of the room as Ben came in. "You..." said the knight in a whisper, "You are an associate of the Beast?"

"I know Glory, if that's what you mean." Ben said stiffly and he listened to the knight talk about murdering someone, which Harry understood immediately and caught Ben when he came out to help Giles with his wound. Harry asked the intern what the knight meant and Ben said, "The general suggests that I kill Dawn, since she is the link and the link must be severed."

"You are not killing my girlfriend, Ben," Harry said through gritted teeth. "I'll kill you if I have to." Ben laughed in his face and prepared a needle, then stuck the needle into Giles's arm. After doing so, the intern started to sweat and he stumbled into the back room where the general was tied up and, with everyone else in the vicinity watching, transformed into Glory. "Glory," Harry said, "fancy seeing you here."

"Same here, blood-sucker," Glory sneered, "but I have no use for you, so..." She punched Harry hard in the chest sending him careening into the wall behind him. When Glory saw the general, she picked up a metal trash can lid and said, "Hey, it's John!" and tossed it like a Frisbee. The lid whizzed through the air and stuck itself into the general's body and, with one last jerk, he was dead. Glory picked Harry up by his hair, slapped him around twice, then escaped with Dawn.

Harry came to a few hours later to find that Buffy was in a catatonic state outside their protected safehouse and, with Spike's help, explained the connection between Glory and Ben. "For the last time," he said with annoyance, "Glory's Ben and Ben's Glory!"

"That's good," said Giles, "but what's the connection between Ben and Glory?"

Harry clicked his fingers and started chuckling. "Oh, she's good. The hell-god used some spell to make humans forget after the transition from herself to the human vessel and, since Spike and I are among the undead, only the two of us can remember it. Spike, she's really good." The blond vampire nodded and they headed back to Sunnydale where Willow kept Buffy in Xander and Anya's bedroom in their apartment. "Willow, perhaps you and I should both go into Buffy's mind and see if we can snap her out of this catatonia." Willow nodded and the two of them concentrated on getting into Buffy's mind. Through his eyelids, Harry saw a flash of white light and then they were watching the Slayer put a book on a shelf, pause, then walk away. He turned around and saw a very young Buffy playing with dolls. "Hello," he said kindly.

"What are you doing here, Harry?" the young Buffy asked. When Harry said nothing, she then asked, "Do you like dolls?"

"They are nice when you're alone, Buffy," Willow said, "but this is important." Joyce and Hank Summers opened the front door and the young Buffy walked up to them. Joyce was carrying a baby in her arms and let the young Buffy hold her. "That must be when Dawn was a baby...or the fake memory of it." Willow whispered to Harry, who agreed with her theory. Then, another version of Buffy walked past them and toward a white door Harry recognized as Dawn's bedroom.

"Buffy, what are you doing?" Harry asked slightly scared of what was about to happen.

"I'm doing what I do best, Harry," Buffy said without concern. "My gift is death." She sat on the edge of Dawn's bed, grabbed a pillow and started to smother her. At first, Dawn struggled but after a few moments, she gave one last jerk and was still.

"We're still figuring that part out," Willow said, "but you don't have to do that! You never kill a person!" Within a second, she and Harry were back where they started, only this time, the version of Buffy who killed Dawn was standing next to them. "What happened right there?" she asked the killer Slayer and the other Buffy answered.

"This when I quit." she said and Harry stared at her. "I was putting a book back for Giles and I quit only for a second because I realized that my greatest gift is death. I'm a killer."

"No," Harry said shaking his head, "you're not, Slayer. You kill demons, vampires and a wide assortment of creatures who threaten humanity but you choose not to take a human life." He pointed to himself and said, "Look at me, for instance. I'm a blood-sucking monster, but I don't kill if I can help it. Back when I was alive, I never killed a person unless I was forced to." Buffy didn't say anything, so he turned to the killer Buffy. "Dawn is in danger and we need you. Glory's going to perform the ritual at midnight and the gateway will stay open until the Dawn's body is dry-or to make it sound more simple-when she dies. We need you and we can't do this alone. Not without the Slayer."

"What will it be, Buffy?" Willow asked. Buffy thought for a second, then the three of them came to. "Thanks for coming back, Buffy."

"Yeah," Harry said, "now let's go get my girlfriend back." Buffy nodded and they headed out toward the Magic Box to prepare. Harry withdrew a gold coin from his pocket, tapped it twice with his wand and put it back. "Okay, I called for a few friends of mine including Ron and Hermione. Back in my fifth year, I taught a handful of students some defensive spells and someof them fought by my side in the Department of Mysteries." He felt a burning sensation on the side of his right leg and looked at the coin again. "They're on their way now."

"I don't think your friends are going to be any...whoa!" Buffy said and raised a troll's hammer as several bursts of blue light flashed around the room. Harry grinned as Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Hannah Abbott and most of the other members of Dumbledore's Army appeared out of thin air. "That's a lot of friends you got there." They heard two loud cracks from the doorway and Ron and Hermione came in. "Good to see you two again."

Ron hugged her and said, "We were just settling down for the night when our fake Galleons gave us the message that we're going to fight against Glory." The other D.A. members looked confused so he explained what he could. "Glory is a god who ruled with two other gods in a hell dimension for over a thousand years. She was cast out after gaining a lot of power and came here in a human host."

"Glory is really powerful and can take your brain energy by inserting her fingers into your skull. Not to mention that she's the one who ordered a vampire who carried the Vampire's Curse to bite me." Harry said bitterly and showed them the two glowing marks on his neck. "All of the mental people in town are her minions here, so try not to kill anyone. Stun, Disarm, and jinx them, but do not kill." The members nodded once. "We're also on a rescue mission, by the way. Dawn Summers, Buffy's sister, has been captured for reasons I cannot explain. Our job is to save her before things get really bad, so try to get where Dawn is before Glory opens the gate to her dimension and Dawn dies."

"Not a problem, Harry," Hermione said. "We may not be able to stop Glory with magic, but we can damn sure slow her down a bit." Harry nodded and Buffy took over from there. Within an hour, the large group headed for the large tower Glory's minions built and waited for their chance. Hermione Stunned a mental person walking past her and Disarmed two who were walking her way with thick wooden boards, then managed to use the full Body-Bind Curse on one of Glory's lumpy minions. "Okay, go!"

"Right." Harry said and ran up the stairs, climbed a ladder and found himself standing at the top of the tower in front of Dawn and behind a man with a full head of white hair. "Don't move!" he shouted and the man turned around.

"You're not supposed to be up here," he said and knocked Harry off his feet, then proceeded to do his job. "Shallow cuts...shallow cuts..." the man muttered and gently sliced Dawn's skin. "Let the blood flow and the portal will open."

_ "Expelliarmus!"_ Harry shouted and the Doc's knife flew out of his hand and down to the ground below. Harry directed his wand at the man and shouted the one spell he'd never thought to use before: _"AVADA KEDAVRA!"_ Doc gasped as the jet of green light hit him square in the chest and he toppled off the tower, his eyes staring unseeing as he slammed into the ground below. _"Diffindo!"_ Dawn's ropes were severed and he held her tight in his arms as the portal opened and Buffy came up. "I've got to get her out of here, Buffy."

"Not yet," said the Slayer and took Dawn by the hands. "Dawn, listen to me. I know the gate is open now, and you don't have to do anything. I'm going to." Harry looked shocked at this, but said nothing. When Dawn mentioned that the portal needed blood, Buffy said, "Dawnie, you were made from me. I was right when I said we share the same blood." She grabbed Dawn's wrist and showed the cut on her own wrist. "Summers blood, Dawn. I'm going to jump."

"But you'll die!" Dawn cried. "Don't do it!"

"I have to, Dawn. I want you to be strong for me, okay? Be strong for Willow, Tara, Giles, and everyone." Buffy said seriously. "I love you and always will." She turned, ran toward the edge of the platform, then jumped into the portal as Harry and Dawn descended from the tower.

Later the next day, Harry walked into the house covered in dirt and holding a spade. "This isn't the first grave I had to dig," he said while washing his hands in the kitchen sink with soap and water. "I ended up digging a grave for a house-elf named Dobby. He was killed by a dagger to the chest just as we were Disapparating from Malfoy Manor." Dawn was sitting at the table looking very sad. "All of our friends and family are never really gone. They're here." He tapped her chest above her heart. "Just remember that, okay?" When she didn't answer or even smile, he went toward the door but stopped.

"I love you, Harry," Dawn said in a choked voice. "Ever since you got here, I knew it, but couldn't do anything because you were with Ginny at the time."

"I love you, too, Dawn," Harry said smiling at her, "and I'm going to do something that I never thought I'd do. I'm going to get my human soul back." With that, he left the room and went to the basement to relax and read today's issue of the _Daily Prophet_.

_**(I know this is a sad chapter, but I thought I'd go with the last of Season 5 and start with Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the next chapter. Hope you like it!)**_


	5. The Bargaining

Harry Potter and the Vampire's Curse - Chapter 5

After a month of working with a Buffy robot, Harry and the Scooby Gang were finding themselves wishing they had the real Buffy back. Harry, after making sure Dawn got off to school okay, went to the Magic Box to see Willow, Xander and Anya sitting at one of the tables. "Harry! We thought you weren't gonna make it!" Xander said happily. "Willow was just about to explain the rest of her plan."

"Since Giles is packing his stuff and leaving for England," said Willow looking to Harry, "I thought we should do the plan tonight. The only people who don't know are Giles, Spike and Dawn." Harry nodded. "Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to get the rest of the ingredients for what we're doing tonight and then we'll do the ressurrection spell."

"I'm not saying this is a bad idea, Willow," said Harry nervously, "but ressurrection spells can be very tricky. The closest thing to a ressurrection spell I had was the Ressurrection Stone, but that only brought back spirits." Willow shook her head and went through the list of ingredients she'd need. "Blood of a pure spirit...that's hard to find, isn't it?"

"Not really," Willow said with a grimace. "I have that part covered. Just make sure nothing else happens, okay?" Harry nodded and sipped on some blood. "Hey, how's the soul thing going? Find any leads on how to get it back?"

"I talked to Angel about it over the phone last night and he said to talk to you about it." Harry replied. "He says you may still know the Soul-Replenishing Spell." Willow nodded and asked if he wanted to do it now. "I promised Dawn I'd get my soul back, but I didn't say who I was going to promise it for so go on, then. Give me my soul back if you can."

"We'll do that tonight, too." Xander suggested. "Right now, we're talking about bringing the real Buffy back and that's going to be really hard." Willow shrugged and changed the subject just as Giles came in. "What's up, G-Man?" Xander asked in what he hoped to be a positive tone.

"I'm almost ready to leave," Giles said, then his eyebrows knitted together and added, "Don't ever call me that, Xander." Anya got busy with the cash register and started to count the money. "Now, I'm all set and my flight leaves in a few hours. Anya, please make sure the Magic Box is properly taken care of and...please, if anyone here needs to use ingredients, it's perfectly fine with me."

Anya only heard what she wanted to hear and that was about her being in charge of taking care of the shop. "Take care of the shop. Got it." she said and walked away leaving them to talk amongst themselves. Xander shook his head with a sigh and sat down near Willow and Tara.

Harry looked at his new wrist watch and stood up. "Sorry to make this short, everyone, but I have to get Dawn from school. I've been using Joyce's old SUV to drive her to school and home every day and I really got the driving thing down, now." He walked out the door and into the SUV, started it then drove off toward Dawn's school where he parked in the parking lot to wait for her. Harry didn't have to wait too long, though, because Dawn was already running toward him and hopped into the front passenger seat. "Hey," he said giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "How was your day?"

"Good," said Dawn smiling, "and it gets even better having you around." Harry grinned, started the truck again, then they were heading toward the house. "You know, I just remembered that we've been dating for four months now."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said while keeping his eyes on the road. "I'm actually surprised that our relationship hasn't gone any farther than where we are now." When the two started dating, there hadn't been many outings to restaurants or movie theaters because of Joyce's illness, but after Buffy died, Harry took her out to eat and to movies to get her mind off things. "Sure, we get out almost every week, but we get into the hand-holding and cheek kissing." Dawn nodded. "Should we go a little further into the relationship?"

"Maybe," Dawn said, "but I'm still a little new to the dating thing. I mean, Buffy's dated guys since high school...one being Angel and then Riley during college, but me...? Not a single guy I like."

"Perhaps that's because you're waiting for the right one," Harry suggsted. "I didn't date until my fifth year at Hogwarts and that was with Cho Chang, the Asian woman who was with us during the final battle with Glory." Dawn's eyes looked to the floor and she went silent. "I don't have feelings for Cho anymore, not romantic ones at least. During our time together, all she wanted to talk about was Cedric Diggory's death."

"Self-centered much?" Dawn scoffed and Harry laughed. Her eyes widened a bit and a smile appeared on her lips. "Harry, how about we stay in for our date tonight? Maybe we can watch a movie or something." Harry was about to say something then stopped. "What?"

"If we do the movie thing tonight, we'll have to do it before midnight. I have some plans with the others." he said. "Not sure what they've got planned." He hated lying to his girlfriend, but when you're about to do something with invoking Osiris and bringing someone back from the dead, you have to lie. As he thought about Buffy, Harry was briefly reminded of the reviving ritual Wormtail performed to bring Voldemort back and was very glad that Wormtail was no longer alive to find out about this particular ritual Willow was planning. "Come on, let's go see Giles off." Dawn nodded and together they went to pick up Xander, Willow, Tara and Anya and then headed to get some good-bye cards and other trinkets for Giles's departure.

Harry and the others walked into the airport and there was Giles waiting for his flight. "Hey," Harry said while plopping himself down in the next chair. "We couldn't go without saying goodbye to you, Rupert."

"Thank you," said Giles with a warm smile, "it was nice of you to do this." Harry shrugged and handed him a wrapped box. "What's this?"

"Something for you to open when you get home, mate," Harry said gesturing to the box. He lowered his voice to a whisper and said, "It's in case of an emergency because I know England and the Death Eaters are all over the place these days." Giles hugged him, a tear falling as he laughed. Willow and Tara handed Giles their farewell cards and Dawn gave him a monster finger puppet. "There you go. Your flight's leaving in a few minutes, so we'll let you get going then." Giles gave them each a hug and went to the gates leading to his plane. As soon as he left, Harry led the others to the SUV and drove back to the house. "Okay, Dawn, we'll get the movie started soon, but I need to talk to everyone else privately, okay?" Dawn scowled and headed up to her room and slammed the door shut. Once Harry was sure Dawn was out of earshot, he pointed his wand up the stairs, muttered _"Muffliato!"_ and took a seat. "How far are we on the plan?"

Willow spoke first. "Well, I've got most of the needed items for the ritual, but the only thing I don't have is the blood of a pure soul. I can get it easily, but...anyway, I do have the urn of Osiris, so once I get the last ingredient, we can get ready for the ritual tonight." Harry nodded and asked for everyone else's reports. Anya, Xander and Tara didn't have much to report and, once the meeting was over, went home. Harry was in the kitchen making popcorn and was just grabbing two bottles of butterbeer when Dawn came back down the stairs dressed in her pajamas. "Ah, you're ready. Excellent."

"Which movie are we watching?" she asked while wrapping her warm arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. "Something romantic?"

"I was hoping you had an idea of what to watch, actually," Harry said kissing her on the cheek as he uncorked the bottles. "I went through the movies you have and we either watched all of them with your mother or I've seen them with..." He almost said Buffy's name and stopped immediately. "Um, perhaps we should rent one?"

"Yeah," Dawn said getting the hint. "The video shop's not too far from here, so I can walk it." Harry nodded and begged her to be careful. "I will, honey. Love you."

"Love you, too, Dawnie," Harry said and, as soon as she left the house, went right to the fireplace and threw some Floo powder into the hearth. "The Burrow!" he hollered and stuck his head in the green flames. Mrs. Weasley was standing in the sitting room talking with Mr. Weasley, who smiled when he saw Harry's head and pointed at him. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, is Ron home?"

"No, he and Hermione went to her parents' house to get the rest of her belongings." Mrs. Weasley said frowning. "Is there something wrong in Sunnydale?"

"Besides the usual vampire attacks and me being one, no." Harry said with a small smile. "Just tell Ron and Hermione that the plan will happen tonight. They'll know what it means." Mrs. Weasley nodded and wrote down what he said. "Oh, I was meaning to ask...how's Ginny? I'm really sorry that she and I split because of my...condition."

Harry had expected the Weasleys to get angry at him for mentioning his condition, but he forgot they were not like the Dursleys. Mr. Weasley said that Ginny was doing fine and been very busy. "She just got a letter from the Holyhead Harpies' captain Gwenog Jones asking her to train with them. Ginny's training to be the Seeker." Harry was very happy for Ginny and wished that he could congratulate her for this. "Well, she'll be home next weekend if you want to pop in and congratulate her." Harry nodded and stopped dead. "What's wrong?"

"Dawn's home," Harry whispered. "Tell Ron and Hermione what I said. Goodbye." The fire vanished and he looked at Dawn, who was now putting her jacket into the closet. "Which one did you get?"

"It's a classic American movie called _The Karate Kid_. It's actually a good one." Dawn said smiling. Harry put the movie in and the opening credits started rolling.

When Harry last looked at the time, it was only nine o'clock when the movie started but when he looked at the clock now, it was after eleven. "Blimey," he said as he watched the closing credits appear on the screen, "that movie was longer than I thought it would be, wasn't it, Dawn?" Harry looked beside him and saw Dawn curled into a ball on the sofa fast asleep. Smiling to himself, Harry covered her up with a blanket, wrote a quick note on a piece of paper on the coffee table and went out the door. Just as he closed the door behind him, he jumped. "Dammit, Spike!" he growled. "What did I tell you about scaring me?"

The blonde vampire grinned and said, "You told me nothing, you wanker," and started to head into the house. "That bloody ponce Xander asked me to take care of Dawn while you were out on your little outing with the other Scoobies, so that's why I'm here." Harry's brows contracted slightly, but didn't object. "Go on, then. Get on with whatever it is you're going to do and be done with it already." Harry shook his head and walked away to meet up with Xander, Willow and Tara.

An hour later, everyone was at Buffy's grave and each of them were ready to light a candle. "Okay," Willow instructed, "light your candles now." Harry didn't bother using a regular cigarette lighter or match. Instead he used the Fire-Making Charm on his candle. "Good thinking, Harry. I forgot about that spell." Harry didn't say anything because Anya was having trouble with her candle. "Anya, are you ready or not?"

"Here," Harry said and pointed his wand at the candle's wick. _"Incendio!"_ A burst of fire escaped the tip of his wand and the candle was lit. "Go on, Willow. Let's get on with the spell." Willow nodded and started the incantation for the ressurrection spell. Not long after she uttered the incantation, something went terribly wrong. Not only did Willow end up regurgitating a snake, but a band of motorcycle-riding demons rode through their clearing. "I'll handle the demons, guys, just make sure the spell works!" Harry shouted over the roaring of engines and started casting spells at the demons. _"Stupefy...Incarcerous...Impedimenta...Reducto...E xpelliarmus!"_ The Reductor curse was most successful in his opinion because one of the motorcycles exploded with a loud bang and a burst of flame. The demon riding it caught fire and was killed instantly.

"Harry!" Xander cried. "Get Anya and Tara out of here now! Apparate to the Magic Box with them!" Harry nodded, took the girls' hands and vanished into thin air leaving Xander and Willow to walk through the woods back to civilization, and returned moments later to get them. "I don't think the spell worked, guys." Xander panted. "I mean, all I saw was a snake coming out of Willow's mouth."

"Yeah, that was really weird," Harry said grimly, his gaze on the redhead witch. "Something tells me that, if the spell worked, we're going to have a problem later." He took Xander's free hand with his own, grabbed Willow's arm with his other hand and felt the familiar sensation of being in a very dark area compressed by invisible bands...then the three of them took in large lungfuls of air when they appeared in front of the Magic Box. Tara and Anya were sitting at a table when they got in. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm okay thanks to you," Anya said happily, "but Tara looks a little wiped out from everything. Too much excitement can really take a lot out of a person." Harry nodded and turned around to see the robot version of Buffy enter the Magic Box. The robot had a gash on the right side of its chest. "Willow, the Buffybot seems to be damaged." Willow woke and said she'd fix her up immediately when they got back to the house.

"Damn!" Harry groaned. "I better check on Spike and Dawn!" He grabbed Willow gently by the hand, turned on the spot and they appeared outside the Summers house. Harry and Willow ran into the house to see Dawn and Spike sitting down on the sofa watching the news. Dawn ran over to Harry and hugged him tightly. "I'm glad you're okay," Harry said, his voice muffled by her shoulder. Spike looked offended and started to leave. "Spike, stay here with Dawn, okay? I just came back to see if you're okay."

"That's right, leave me to babysit while you and the Scoobies go off on another bloody adventure." Spke growled. "If I didn't care for your little girlfriend's emotions for you, I'd rip your bloody head off your shoulders!" Harry didn't really care for Spike's anger right now. He was more worried about the demons attacking Sunnydale and told him about them. "Demons who ride motorcycles?"

"And they chose Sunnydale as their next bloody target!" Harry said angrily. "Now, I want you to stay with Dawn while Willow, the others and myself go out there and fight." He turned to Dawn and said, "Dawnie, I need you to stay here, all right? We don't need you getting hurt."

Dawn's happiness was replaced by rage and she glared at him. "Right. We don't need little old me gettin hurt, do we? You're just like Buffy, you know that, Harry? You're just as overprotective as she was!" Harry was stung by her words but she wasn't finished. "I'm not the Key anymore and I can take care of myself, you know! Hell, I fought a couple demons when Buffy wasn't around, so don't tell me that I'm a weak little girl, Harry Potter."

"Dawn, I didn't..." Harry said and gave a loud groan as Dawn ran up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. "In the words of my friend Ron, she needs to sort out her priorities." he said to Spike, who chuckled. "Try and calm her down while I'm gone and, if she runs off, try and catch her, will you?" Spike gave a salute and Harry ran off to find the demons, which didn't take too long.

_Downtown Sunnydale_

Once Harry spotted the demons heading downtown, he followed them silently thanks to his vampire stealth and crouched behind a Dumpster and watched them. The largest and meanest of the demons was talking to something or someone Harry couldn't see. "See, my boys are very hungry and when they get that way, they like to tear people up...especially girls." the demon said in a rasp of a voice that sounded more like Fenrir Greyback than anything Harry had ever heard speak in a while. "Let's tear it up!" Harry was so angry that he didn't even notice that he transformed into the vampire inside, raised his wand and sent a blast of red light at the demon who fell forward when it hit.

"Sorry, mate," Harry said grinning, his fangs gleaming in the light from the fire, "but you and your mates won't be tearing anything up while I'm around." The demon Harry had Stunned was up again and punched him hard enough for him to fly a few feet backwards. Harry stood up, his face bleeding a little from the impact on the pavement and snarled, then his yellow eyes widened as he gazed into the eyes of the Buffy robot. Before he could do anything, however, the demons revved their motorcycles and pulled hard in all directions until the Buffybot was completely torn apart. Harry ran toward the robot as soon as the motorcycle-riding demons were gone and with a small glance he saw Dawn beside him.

The robot version of Buffy gazed at Harry and Dawn and said, "I saw...me. Where am I?"

"You're right here," Dawn said, "with me!" The robot's head moved sideways as if to say no. "No? What do you mean?"

"There was another me," the robot said confidently, "but where did I go?" Harry and Dawn stared at each other in horror and Dawn grabbed his hand and they Disapparated to the house where Xander, Willow, Anya and Tara were waiting.

"Why didn't you tell me you were trying to bring Buffy back?" Dawn shouted angrily at them. Spike was off somewhere either trying to find the demons or looking for her at the moment, so she could speak freely. "Tell me!"

"Dawn..." Harry said breaking the silence that came after her shouting, "We were going to tell you but..." There was the definite sound of a hand slapping a person's face and Harry felt his right cheek. "You hit me...?"

"You're damn right!" Dawn growled, her voice was quivering with rage and she looked to be on the verge of tears. "What other secrets are you keeping from me, eh?"

Harry stood up, his anger rising rapidly at her tone. "Dawn, listen to me! We didn't tell you because we weren't sure if the spell would work. I'm sorry for lying to you, trust me, I really am, but think of all the lies Buffy told your mother!" Dawn's face reddened with rage and she screamed a horrible, eardrum-breaking scream to match her complexion. "Calm down, will you? We need to find the real Buffy and get her back here immediately! Willow, Anya and Xander, go find her and bring her to the house. She'll probably be disoriented and possibly injured. Just go! I'll take care of Dawn."

"Harry Potter, don't you dare!" Dawn roared as Harry threw her over his shoulder and carried her upstairs to her room. LET...ME...DOWN! NOW!" Harry laid her gently on the bed and sat down with her as she finally let out all the tears she held in. "Y-you could have t-t-told me."

"I know, and I'm very sorry for not telling you," Harry said gently, "but we didn't tell Giles, did we? Have you any idea how angry he'd be with me for letting Willow even attempt a ressurrection spell like this? He'd stake me himself!" Dawn gave him a watery smile and a light giggle. "I know what it's like to lose family, remember? My own mother sacrificed herself to save me from Voldemort and I did the same for everyone at my school during the final battle. None of the spells he cast had any effect on anyone there because I died to save them. Buffy died to save all of us from a terrible fate. She saved the entire world, not just the Muggle world but the Wizarding World as well. I want her to keep going, not to be remembered, do you?"

"I'm glad you brought her back, but did you have to do it on our date night?" Dawn said exsasperatedly. Harry laughed and climbed into bed with her and held her against him. "I love you, but can you really expect me to date a guy who keeps secrets from his own girlfriend...especially something as big as this?" Horrified, Harry sat up and stared at her.

"You're breaking up with me?" he said quietly and suddenly felt very sad. "Ginny already broke up with me last month, Dawn, I don't need another one." Dawn shook her head.

"No, I'm not breaking up with you, but couples don't keep secrets from each other!" Dawn said. "Now, I'm not trying to be controlling or anything, but can you please tell me when you're going to do something so honestly stupid?" The others, Harry realized, were out looking for the newly revived Buffy and, after over an hour, saw Buffy walking up the stairs staring at the changes in the house. "Hey, Buffy," Dawn said tentatively, "how are you?"

"Fine," Buffy said softly, "just..." Harry forced himself not to vamp out when he saw the blood on her hands. "Oh, yeah. I...uh..."

"You punched and clawed your way out of your own grave, didn't you?" Harry said angrily and Buffy nodded. Harry strode downstairs, anger flowing from him in waves and rounded on Willow. "You!" he shouted. "You didn't realize that Buffy was in her own bloody coffin when you cast that spell, did you?"

"Harry, I..." Willow said with tears in her eyes. "I really..."

"You didn't think, did you?" Harry growled at her, his eyes burning with rage. "You didn't _even stop to think_ that your best friend was in her coffin when you did the spell?" Willow stood up angrily.

"I didn't know!" she shouted and Harry stepped back as raw magical energy swirled around her. "I didn't realize that Buffy was in her coffin at the time! Neither one of us did! And who are you to talk, Harry Potter, you were with us the whole damned time!"

"Will," Xander said quietly, "calm down. Harry's just a little angry, that's all." Willow ignored him and sat down again. "Look, we all made a mistake, Harry, even you. Buffy was in her coffin when we did the spell, and we are very sorry for it and so should you. As Willow said, you were doing the spell with us." Harry glared at him, a growl escaping through his diaphragm. "You can growl at me all you want to, but you know it's true."

Silently and enraged, Harry headed back upstairs. Dawn was cleaning Buffy up; her hands were no longer bloody, her honey-blonde hair wasn't tangled and Dawn was finishing up cleaning Buffy's face with a wet rag. "We heard you downstairs," Dawn said not looking at him as he stood in the doorway. "It wasn't only Willow's fault, you know."

"I don't want a bloody lecture, Dawn," Harry said curtly, "so don't even try it." He tried to calm down a bit but there wasn't much he could do to calm down. "I think we better get some sleep, then. I'll send the others home and..." he stopped and heard the front door shut from downstairs and heard Spike's voice calling for Dawn. "Spike...he doesn't know yet." Dawn headed downstairs, Buffy slowly walking behind her and Harry watched as Spike almost told Dawn off until he saw Buffy standing on the top step. "Spike..."

"Buffy?" Spike said softly, then he turned his gaze to Harry and grew angry. "Why didn't you tell me you did something like this!"

"I was sort of hoping you'd figure it out, Spike!" Harry shouted. "There were a lot of signs that we were doing something out of the ordinary and I thought you, a brilliant vampire, would have figured it out!" His wand was out instantly and pointed at Spike's chest. "I've been a bloody vampire for almost a month and I've seen a lot while living here! I watched Dawn and Buffy mourn over the loss of Joyce, I watched Buffy die from jumping into that portal two weeks ago and I mourned over her just as much as you have!"

"NO YOU BLOODY HAVEN'T!" Spike roared. "YOU HAVEN'T EVEN BEGUN TO FEEL WHAT I-!" The elder vampire's words were interrupted by a flash of red light and he waws slumped against the wall.

"Don't tell me that you love her?" Harry said pointing his wand now at Spike as the vampire tried to stand. "You try to kill the Slayer at a school event only to get whacked over the head with a fireaxe by her mother and now look at you. You've got a government behavioral chip in your brain that stops you from attacking humans, but you can hurt other vampires and demons! What does that make you? A hero?"

"Harry, stop!" Dawn said, her voice rising to override Harry's shouting. "Harry..."

"No," Harry said shaking with anger, "I'm not done until he leaves this house. After that I'm putting up the spell to stop vampires excluding myself from coming in here uninvited. He's no longer one of the gang." Spike finally stood up, grabbed his jacket and ran out the door and out of sight. Harry shut the door lightly and sat down on the sofa beside Willow and Tara. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I know it was unnecessary and out of order for me to say those things, but...they're true."

"You're not out of order," said Xander gently. "On the contrary, you did something neither of us would do." Harry felt slightly better after that but Xander's next words really made a difference. "Hey, we've got our Buffy back! She's been through a rough night, so let's just go to bed and get some rest, okay?" Harry nodded and went to the basement where he slept.

Harry fixed up his bed covers and was about to crawl into bed when he heard a knock on the basement door leading to the kitchen. "Come in." he said and Dawn quietly descended the stairs. "Dawn, I..."

"Shut up," she said quietly. "Shut up and hold me." Harry allowed her to get into bed with him and wrapped his arms around her. Dawn's face hit his chest and he felt all of the anger go away instantly. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Harry whispered. "I think we should go to sleep now." Dawn gave a yawn and was soon sleeping soundly. Harry's eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep himself.


	6. Afterlife

Harry Potter and the Vampire's Curse

Chapter 6: Afterlife

After all the events with Buffy's return and the demons attacking Sunnydale, Willow and Tara got ready for bed. Tara was making the bed while Willow dressed in her pajamas. "Did you get through to England?" asked Tara as she finished with the top sheets and blankets.

"Yeah," said Willow. "he's gonna head back as soon as he can. I'm not sure, a couple days?" Tara nodded and asked how Giles sounded over the phone. "Um, I'm not sure...kinda glad...but kinda weirded out...which I get, you know? A lot of 'dear lords' and I think I actually _heard_ him clean his glasses." Tara giggled and they climbed into bed.

"Are you worried?" Tara asked. Willow's blue eyes looked into her brown ones and shrugged.

"Worried?" Willow answered. "If you ask me, I think Harry's more worried about Buffy than any of us. I mean, he's dating Dawn, right, and, even though he's a vampire, Dawn loves him with all her teen heart." She sighed and said, "No, I'm not worried. It's all good."

"Hey," said Tara," this is me, Willow. It doesn't all have to be 'good' and 'fine'. This is the room where you don't have to be brave. If you're worried, you can be worried." Willow frowned.

"I'm not unworried," she said finally. "I mean...what, what happened was...intense, you know? That's...gotta change you!" Tara nodded. "When Angel came back,... Buffy said he was... like an animal."

"Buffy's not like that," Tara pointed out. "She would never be like that." Willow just nodded but looked unconvinced. "But?"

"It's just kinda... noisy up there, you know?" said Willow pointing to her head. Tara nodded. "I think Harry's head is kinda noisy up there too." Tara giggled. "So, how is Harry without his curse these days? I noticed he's a little happier...besides, y'know, being angry at me."

Tara looked concerned and stroked Willow's arm. "Well, Harry was just kinda surprised that our spell worked. I mean, i was, but I'm happy about it, you know?" Willow smiled. "Let Harry calm down and then things will be better. He'll apologize for yelling at you, but he wasn't out of line, either. Maybe if we let him cool down a bit, then he'll feel better." Willow gave a nod, shut the lights off, and then fell asleep. As soon as they closed their eyes, something glass shattered against wall above their headboard. They looked up and saw an outline of Buffy standing at the foot of their bed.

"What did you do?" she growled in a low hoarse voice. "Do you know what you did? You're like children!" Willow and Tara stared at Buffy's outline in fear. "Bitches! Filthy little bitches rattling the bones! Did you cut it's throat! Did you pat its head?" She threw a crystal ball at the wall above them causing the two witches to scream and Buffy shouted, "The blood dried on your hands, didn't it?"

"Oh, God!" Tara groaned. "Oh, God!"

But Buffy wasn't done yet. She raised her voice louder. "You were stained! You still are! I know what you did!" Then, suddenly, she was gone.

Willow and Tara switched on the lights and looked around. "There's no glass," said Tara. "When she threw the crystal ball, there's no glass." Willow suggested they check on Buffy, so they peered into Buffy's room and saw the newly revived Slayer sleeping soundly in bed, then re-entered their room.

"Okay... what the frilly heck is going on?" Willow asked. Tara just shrugged and suggested they dreamed the whole thing. Closing the door, Willow said, "Right. Right...no, wrong!" she pointed at her head. "Different brains, remember?" Tara nodded in understanding. "That's it, I'm calling Xander." Willow picked up the phone and dialed Xander's number.

Harry was sitting up in bed reading a book by candlelight. The book he was reading was an old book called _Quidditch Through the Ages_, a book Hermione gave him for his seventeenth birthday. As he was reading, the candles extniguished. _"Lumos,"_ he muttered and the tip of his wand ignited in dim light. "Who's there?" Harry's eyes widened as he saw the outline of Buffy standing at the foot of his bed. "Buffy? What...?"

"You!" she said in a hoarse voice. "What did you do?" Confused, Harry stood up and raised his wand to cast the thin beam of light around the room, but there was nothing there. "You and those filthy bitches, rattling the bones! You are nothing but dust, Harry Potter! Do you hear me?"

"Buffy..." Harry muttered and ducked as an empty crystal phial shattered over his head. "Bloody hell, Buffy! What's wrong with you!" he shouted. Then, with a flick of his wand, he turned on the lights. "Gotta see Dawn... must know she's alright!" Without another word or dressing, Harry bolted up the stairs and into Dawn's room. She was sleeping soundly in her bed. Shaking her, he said, "Dawn, wake up." Dawn stirred and sat up. "Dawn, I..."

"Harry, you look scared," she said rubbing her eyes. "Come here." Harry lay down next to her and she held him for comfort. "What happened?" Harry was so scared that he couldn't even speak. "Tell me, honey, what's wrong?"

"I don't know," he whispered, "but I think there's something trying to kill Willow, Tara and myself because of us reviving Buffy." Dawn's eyes widened and pulled him closer. "It tried to get me, but..."

"Oh, don't worry," Dawn said. "The others will figure out what that thing is and we'll kill it." Harry nodded and went to sleep beside her.

After Dawn got to school by bus, Harry lounged with the rest of the gang in the backyard. "This is really bad," he said grimly. "Whatever that was came to me last night and started getting to me."

"Yeah," Xander agreed, "this is bad. Very, very bad!"

"Calm down, Xander," Anya said patting his shoulder. "I'm sure it's a hitch-hiker." When everyone in the vicinity stared at her, the ex-demon elaborated her theory. "A hitch-hiker...a demon who travels across dimensions. I believe when Buffy's spirit went through the dimensions, a demon latched onto her for the ride and ended up here."

Harry nodded. "That could be it. So, we'll just find out what it is and kill it."

"We killing something?" asked Buffy.

"Buffy! You're not supposed to be up yet!" Willow said, then changed her tone. "Sorry, I meant that you should be resting." Buffy told her that she had enough sleep and needed to be up and about. "Oh, okay. Um, we're trying to figure out the spook that's been visiting us. So far, it scared Tara and myself, Xander and Harry. The thing acted like you to scare Tara, Harry and myself and made Anya cut her face with a knife to scare Xander."

Buffy didn't look to concerned, but she did look confused. "Um...last night I..." Everyone stared at her as she stood there. It took Harry's voice to snap her out of her thoughts. "Oh, sorry. Last night I looked at our pictures and we were dead. I mean, in the pictures, we were dead, but then they were okay after a second. Would that be relevant to what you're looking for?"

Harry nodded bitterly. "Definitely. So we have to find something that would somehow possess people and make inanimate objects change for a moment." he said. "Let's go to the Magic Box and find out exactly what we're looking for." The others nodded and got ready to go.

The Scooby gang were looking through books containing information on demons so Buffy could kill it just as Anya was coming in with a tray with a few cups on it. "I found one of those 24-hour coffee shops. Remember that bookstore? Well, they became one of those books-and-coffee places and now they're just coffee." She set the tray down on a table and looked at everyone. Dawn was standing at a bookshelf not listening. "Uh, coffee, coffee, coffee...hot chocolate." Anya looked up at Dawn. "You're too young for coffee."

"Idiot," said Dawn. Her eyes were pure white, which made the hair on the back of Harry's neck prickle slightly. She spoke in a low, hoarse voice. "All of you did it. You stupid children." Everyone stared at her; Harry even rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing things correctly. "Did you think the blood wouldn't reach you? I smell the death on you. Look at what you've done!" Harry stood up just as Dawn opened her mouth and fire shot out of it.

"Bloody hell!" he shouted as some of the books on a table caught fire. _"Aguamenti!"_ A jet of water shot out of his wand tip and put out the fire. Dawn collapsed to the floor and he ran to her side. _"Ennervate!" _Dawn woke up and asked what happened. "The bloody demon possessed you." he told her. "It's gone now."

"It got to me?" she said wide-eyed. "But...how?" Harry shrugged. "Huh. That's weird."

"Th-that was it!" Willow said. "Like Buffy but with fire!" Harry nodded. Dawn asked what was going on and Willow looked at her. "It's fine. We got everything under control...maybe."

A few hours later, Xander looked outside. "It's getting light out. Buffy's probably going home from her patrol." he said. Tara told everyone her preference of sunrise when she got up instead of staying up late. "Hey, Tara? This is crazy but...Spike got me thinking. This spell we did...it's having consequences, isn't it? I mean, it sure seems like it. And I was wondering...did you know this might happen?"

"No!" Tara cried. Harry understood Xander's questioning because he, too, was thinking about what Spike said. He asked if anyone could have known about what they did. "Willow is a talented witch and she would never do anything to hurt anyone." Tara said defensively.

"We know, Tara," said Harry, "but we just meant-"

"Thaumogenesis!" Willow said suddenly and everyone stared at her. Everyone else thought she was possessed by the demon, but she shook her head. "No, I'm not possessed. This demon, it's not a demon we let out. It's a demon we made." Harry looked at her confused. "Thaumogenesis is when doing a spell actually creates a demon. In this case, it was just a side-effect."

"So, we made a demon by casting that spell?" Harry said completely bewildered. "Would you care to elaborate?"

Willow nodded and said, "Think of it like the world doesn't like you getting something for free, and we asked for a huge gift. Buffy. And so the world said 'fine, but if you have that, then you have to take this, too.' And it made the demon."

"Okay," said Harry now understanding the gist of the whole situation. "The universe didn't like us getting Buffy for free, so it created the demon as a buy-one-get-one-free thing, then?" Willow nodded. "Right. Now what? How can we not see it? All we see is us doing stuff."

"I think it's out of phase with this dimension," Willow explained. "Like, it's conscious is here, but it's body is caught between existing and not existing."

"So," said Xander, "we need to un-create it, right?"

Willow nodded but looked afraid now. "Yeah, but there's a problem..."

"It's linked to the spell," Harry said angrily. "If we sent it away, it would be like the spell never happened. Like Buffy never came back." Dawn's eyes widened and started to water. "Dawn..."

"No!" she shouted, her voice trembling slightly. "You can't do that! You can't think for a second that you're going to do that!"

"Dawn, we're not going to," Harry assured her. "We'll find another way to stop it, but right now..." Dawn glared at him and ran off. "Oh bullocks, here we go again. I'll get her." Harry ran off after Dawn and stopped her halfway down the street. "Hey, wait! Dawn, please stop." Dawn did stop but started pounding her fists on his chests, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"If you think you can give her back to me and take her away again? No. That's worse than if you never brought her back. You can't mess with people's lives that way!" Harry held her close and patted her back. "You can't! Stop them!"

"Dawn, listen to me. We are not going to undo the spell. I like having Buffy back as much as you do. We all do. I promise we'll find another way, all right? We just need to figure everything out." As he tried conforting her, he heard Willow's voice inside his head and she sounded happy. "It's temporary, Dawn! The demon is temporary!" Dawn looked at him, tears still flooding down her cheeks. When he got the rest of the information, Harry frowned and chose not to tell Dawn about the rest of it. _"Tell me what to do to make the demon solid," _he told Willow telepathically. _"I need the Latin version of the spell, so I can cast it." _Instantly, Willow gave him the whole spell in Latin and he Apparated to the house.

Harry walked into the house to hear Buffy trying to fight the ghost-like demon in her bedroom. With his wand at the ready, he ran up to the room and started to mutter the incantation while pointing his wand at the demon. _"Natum est, per te facti sunt. Natum est, depracamur. Fecimus tibi nostras, et nostras voces, ut si in subiecerit. Potiones nostris, quia ratio apprehendit, futurum est autem, cum motus. De praeterito non scindimus, substantia molem dabo tibi dederit tibi!" _A white light appeared at the tip of his wand and grew brighter with every part of the incantation. _"Natum est, te facti sunt. Natum est, depracamur!" _The white light was so bright Harry had to close his eyes tight in order to contentrate. The demon saw this and started to back away. _"SOLIDUM!"_ The white light hit the demon and it became corporeal. "Now, hit it, Buffy!"

Buffy fought the demon, happy to be able to hit it finally, but the demon was stronger than she was. Harry threw her a battle axe and the Slayer swung the axe at the demon just as Dawn, Anya and Xander appeared at the bedroom door. Dawn gasped as the demon's head rolled across the floor. "Oh!" she yelped. "That's probably the sort of thing I'm _not_ supposed to see, right?" Anya patted her on the shoulder, her mouth open in shock. Buffy ran to Dawn just as Harry slid down the wall to the floor. "Harry! Oh, God!"

Harry's eyes opened and he felt very weak. "That took a lot out of me," he said feebly. "I need to rest." Dawn helped him stand and took him to her bedroom and let him sleep there. She lay there with him and draped an arm around his chest.

The next morning, Harry awoke to an empty bed beside himself laying there. He looked at the calendar on the wall and sighed. "Dawn's off to school, then." Harry looked out the window and saw Buffy and Dawn having a sister moment. Dawn was holding a brown paper bag and hugging her sister. "Glad to see things are somewhat normal again," he muttered. "I swear I will not cast a spell like that again." A sudden thought hit him hard. "If I can do that kind of spell, perhaps I can cast the soul spell on myself." He sighed. "I better talk to Willow about this and see if it would work!" Without a second thought, Harry used the phone downstairs and called Willow. "I need to talk to you about something very imporant. How soon can you meet me at the Magic Box? Great. See you then." Harry went out the front door and Disapparated.

"What's so imporant?" Willow asked. Tara stood beside her most likely wondering the same thing.

"Would it be possible to cast the spell to bring back my soul on myself?" he asked. "I was thinking...if I could cast that spell to make the demon solid, I could..."

"Harry," Tara interrupted, "we're talking about a powerful spell. If you did it wrong...said the wrong word in the incantation or messed up some other way...it could kill you!"

Angry, Harry said, "I don't care! Tell me what we need and prepare me for the spell. I'm going to cast it no matter what. Write it down!" The three of them went into the shop and got prepared.

Once everything was prepared, Willow gave Harry instructions on how to cast the spell properly. "All you have to do," she said, "is point your wand at the Orb of Thessulah and say the incantation. When the incantation's done, the light at the tip of your wand will backfire into you. I have your soul in this jar here." She showed him a jar holding a white orb. "Think you can handle it?" Harry smiled and raised his wand...

_**Sorry about not updating for so long. I haven't had a lot of time to actually write another chapter. Hope you like this one. i've worked on it for a while now. Thanks for the wait!**_


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